Are you ready for timeless metagame challenge?

Timeless Metagame Challenge awaits us this weekend on MTG Arena. These challenges are a cheap way for players to battle in best-of-three matches for lots of gold and prize packs. Heading into a new set, there are few ways as good as the metagame challenges to load up on wildcards! So, what are the best Timeless decks to bring if you want to earn your 30 packs? Let’s find out! 

Top Contenders

Show and Tell

Likelihood it shows up: Extremely high. Show and tell has been all over the ladder and it is one of the most discussed decks in the Timeless metagame. I would expect this to be one of the decks that people pick up for this event who normally don’t engage with Timeless.

Strengths: Refined combo deck that destroys non-interactive decks and can easily win on turn three when left to its own devices. While the deck can go fast, it also performs well in the mid-game thanks to rebuying Show and Tell and having access to many filter effects.

Weaknesses: There’s only one thing your deck can do and if the opponent can apply early pressure alongside disruption, it is challenging to win. Top decks like Domain Zoo and UBx Death’s Shadow that can apply early pressure and hold up interaction are challenging matchups.

Should you play it: It’s the best option for pure combo enjoyers, but I suspect it will suffer heavily from aggressive decks and being targeted as a top deck in the format heading into the weekend.

Jund Midrange

Likelihood it shows up: Medium to Low. Jund is one of the various midrange decks and it doesn’t quite have the same level of popularity as Death’s Shadow, Show and Tell, or Domain Zoo despite its high place on the Timeless tier list. 

Strengths: Jund Midrange can easily handle other creature decks and has the closing speed to still apply pressure to control and combo decks. Along with early Blood Moon, Jund can handle several decks that otherwise should have strong matchups into Midrange. Like most midrange decks, Jund is also very customizable to attack whatever decks you want to metagame against, within reason.

Weaknesses: Game one, you are heavily reliant on your discard to protect against Show and Tell and several versions are running Leyline of Sanctity in the main. You are also very reliant on drawing the correct sideboard cards against combo including both Titan and Show and Tell. You also don’t have great answers to the unfair elements of otherwise fair Timeless decks such as Natural Order out of Yawgmoth.

Should you play it: I really like Jund Midrange for this weekend. You are naturally well positioned against the other creature decks, and you also have enough sideboard hate to try and mitigate your bad combo matchups. Expect to lose most game ones against Show and Tell and Titan, but strong pilots should be able to turn the matchups favorable post-board.

Domain Zoo

Likelihood it shows up: Much like Show and Tell, there will absolutely be Domain Zoo showing up during your Timeless metagame runs.

Strengths: Domain Zoo is an aggressive deck that can win anytime an opponent stumbles and you have access to the best threats on-rate along with fantastic interaction thanks to Stubborn Denial and Leyline Binding. If you want to beat spell-based decks, Zoo is a top-tier choice.

Weaknesses: Once you’ve reached the midgame, many decks are able to handle your creatures and mitigate your early game prowess. Yawgmoth, Jund Midrange, and Death’s Shadow can all be challenging and that is a large portion of the top tier decks.

Should you play it: This is one of the best decks to attack Show and Tell and various unpolished decks that may show up in the challenge. However, I suspect it is not the best choice of the top Timeless tier list options and I would instead lean towards other decks.

Yawgmoth

Likelihood it shows up: Medium to Low. While Yawgmoth is powerful, it doesn’t show up as often on ladder as often as some of the other top Timeless metagame decks.

Strengths: Incredibly powerful creature deck that can leverage Yawgmoth and Natural Order to easily go over top of other creature-centric decks. This deck can also pivot to a more midrange deck with Thoughtseize and Test of Talents to handle the combo decks that would otherwise have an advantage in this matchup.

Weaknesses: Even with great sideboard tools, the combo matchup can be challenging for Yawgmoth. This also includes Titan, which can ignore the small creatures of Yawgmoth and quickly go over the top with a Craterhoof of their own.

Should you play it: If you are an experienced pilot, this is one of the best decks to play to attack the current Timeless metagame. We have seen this deck over perform expectations in tournament settings and it gets an edge by being a less popular deck on ladder, so players may not be as prepared to fight it as other strategies.

UBx Death’s Shadow

Likelihood it shows up: Extremely high as Death’s Shadow is another one of the top represented decks on the ladder.

Strengths: Early disruption, great threats, and the ability to grind games out late make Death’s Shadow a great deck with game into nearly the entire format. There are few creature decks or combo decks that want to fight Death’s Shadow since it can attack from multiple angles all while drawing enough cards to find the right answers for the right matchups.

Weaknesses: Death’s Shadow can struggle against Titan and other decks that can go over the top while playing cards like Cavern of Souls to mitigate the deck’s ability to play defense on the stack. The deck can also struggle against Jund Midrange since they can answer your threats while deploying their own, stopping you from just filtering with enough time to find the right cards in the matchup.

Should you play it: Absolutely. For me, Death’s Shadow is on par with Jund Midrange as an excellent choice for this weekend, especially if you suspect Show and Tell will see a lot of play. While the deck requires some practice to optimize your card selection and threat usage, if you put in the time to get the most out of this deck, it can easily carry you to seven wins this

Titan

Likelihood it shows up: Medium to Low. The continued presence of Show and Tell has put a damper on Titan and it will certainly show up, but I suspect it will be a rarity in most of your runs.

Strengths: Titan can go over the top of creature decks and easily dominate midrange piles that aren’t able to rush out Blood Moon.

Weaknesses: Show and Tell and Blood Moon. While Titan does it’s best to attack these decks in the sideboard, it can be incredibly challenging to win against these strategies if you don’t mulligan to your answers and then you run the risk of not being proactive enough.

Should you play it: Titan is a great deck as long as you avoid Show and Tell and proactively play around Blood Moon. Unfortunately, that means you need to dodge the most popular deck. It is a good anti-meta deck if you think players will pivot away from Show and Tell, but I worry that too many Titan runs will end to Show and Tell and so I wouldn’t recommend it this weekend.

For Decklists and more, be sure to check out our Timeless Tier List!